Suthara's Journey
by Slag-Heap
Summary: A young Khajiit girl runs away from home with her cathay-raht brother and an argonain.
1. Escape from Elsweyr

I always somehow knew I was never meant to just be a Khajiit beggar girl, but I cannot overstate how horrid it was in Elsweyer under Thalmor rule.  
My mother was never really convinced that the Aldmeri Dominion saved Elsweyr, she thinks that Massar and Secunda simply came back on their own.  
Nevertheless, the Dominion were bastards to us, according to my Cathay-Rhat older brother, K'Donna, our family used to be quite wealthy. My father was the mane and during the time of the void nights, where I was to young to remember, the Aldmeri Dominion had killed him. I am, little 13 year old Suthara, Although I was only 9 at the time this is how I escaped Thalmor oppression in Elsweyr.

On a warm Elsweyr night, my mother had made K'Donna and I fondue, we had no home, it was just the moons that kept us going through the nights. We were sitting there silently eating our cheesy dinner when a Thalmor Justiciar walked up to us, I had seen him before, I could not forget that faint aura of superiority that he emminates.  
"It is after dark, you three know the curfew." My mother spoke "Khajiit have no house to return to, you know this Cirion." *He let a smirk cross his face for just long enough for all three of us to see it. "well I am afraid, that his will add to your three's fast accumulating debt." K'Donna stood up, he easily stood head and shoulders above this smug High Elf, I tried my best to cover my face with the hood I was wearing, knowing what's to come. "Listen you smug rat-" "Oh I would be delighted to to hear K'Donna's reasoning as to why you cant pay the debt, but you wont want to be hauled off to the Corinth dungeon after the last offence, would you K'Donna?" as he arrogantly stared at my physically imposing hot headed brother who sat back on the ground after staring Cirion down for a couple more seconds."Well I have a party that I must be attending, so I cant be sitting here speaking with the riff-raff, see you tomorrow night." *As he was walking away he nudged my mothers bowl of fondue over with his foot. She stared sadly after the Altmer not really caring about her spilled dinner, K'Donna and I shared with her.

K'Donna stared morosely at his empty bowl, Mother was staring at the ground, silently. I stood up quietly, so quietly in fact, that neither of them had noticed.  
"We need to get out of here." My mother looked up at me. "Suthara you know why we cant do that." I stare into my mothers distant blue eyes, they are the one trait, that I inherited from her. K'Donna looked at me, but said nothing, "mamma I don't want to be hungry anymore."I pleaded. "I know Suthara, but- "She has a point." said K'Donna in his deep voice. "mother we cannot keep doing this forever." he looked at her. I was only eye level with K'Donna, yet I saw the anger in his amber eyes, he considered it weak to attempt to run away, "My children I am to frail to try and run away, you both know that the Dominion would pursue you." even K'Donna's strength could only get you so far."  
"Mamma we are going to be put into jail with the bad khajiit if we don't even try." "we are going to be put into jail if we do try, Suthara." Mother looked back at the ground.  
"Well if we are going to be locked up regardless, than what do we have to lose?" K'Donna questioned." "Go to sleep my children." "but-" I began to say. "I said go so sleep!"  
with that we lay down on the cold earth, and swiftly fall asleep, the last thing I saw before I shut my eyes, was Mamma sitting, looking at the moons.

When I wake up, I see Mamma standing next to a fence, two knapsacks laying next to her. I groggily crawl over to K'Donna and attempt to rouse him up, my tiny hands barely penetrated his thick fur but using a claw I was able to get him up. he sat up slowly, and looked over at mamma, once we had both awoken, she stood next to us. "My children,  
after much thought I have decided, that you were right." K'Donna looked at her quizzing, not remembering our discussion last night. "What are you talking about Mother?"  
K'Donna I have decided that Suthara and you are right, and you need to leave." "I have spent my money buying enough supplies for couple of days." *she hands us a bag each. I noticed that she had no bag on her back. " with enough luck the Thalmor wont notice you have gone until it is to late. " wait?" K'Donna looked at my mothers empty back.  
We shared a long pause, "mamma?" She merely gave us a small look of happiness. She walked over and attempted to wrap her arms around K'Donna's colossal frame.  
and then she knelt down and gave me an extra long hug. "Suthara, you are special, the daughter of the mane, there will be bright things in your future." I began to weep, but before I could my brother was gently grabbing my shoulder. "Do not worry mother, I will protect her." "I know you will K'Donna, now go quickly, follow the road northeast,  
once you make it to the Cyrodiil border, go to Leyawiin, and find a boat going up the river, stow away if you have to, I just want my children to be way from this horrid place."  
we paused for a fraction of a second. "Go" she whispered, "I will stall the High Elves as long as I can" as soon as she said that, K'Donna hefted me up onto his back and began to run.

I held both packs on my back, and K'Donna held me on his back, he was effectively sprinting with a 9 year old Khajiit and a weeks provisions on his back. He was sprinting through the jungle at speeds I did not think he was capable of, still it took us about an hour to make it to the Elsweyr-Cyrodiil border. Once we had gotten there however, there was a Wood Elf at the border. He had tried to tell us to stop, but K'Donna simply bowled him over. and kept running, He got up, grabbed his bow and quiver and rang a bell, alerting other Bosmer at the border to give chase. We were running and ducking past trees and rocks, K'Donna showing no signs of tiring. Arrows were flying past us but we still managed to make it to Leyawiin a couple minutes before any Bosmer archers. K'Donna got to the docks, and immediately collapsed, I hopped off of his back and dropped the packs on the wood. sailors were looking at us from all angles, I took a moment to sneak to the nearby wall and look at the town square, there my heart sank, I saw the same Altmer from the night before, Cirion.  
Once i had made it back to the docks, I saw a couple sailors kneeling over my brother asking if he was alright. I went up to an argonian with a small row-boat, "mister can you take me and my brother up river?" He looked down at me, "I am afriad not little cat." I began to tear up, all this for nothing "but, but, we need to escape?" He looked down again, "we really need to ESCAPE!" I shrieked at the top of my lungs, the argonian's face twisted into one of terror "o-ok fine, just get in the boat. I crawled over to K'Donna who was catching his breath on the ground. "Brother, I got us a boat ride, we just need to get there." as soon as I had said that, K'Donna rose up with a heave of exhaustion. I carried my bag and he carried his own.  
As soon as we made it onto the boat, we saw Bosmer and Altmer at the docks looking around for us. By the time we had made it to the middle of the river, they had spotted us.  
and were firing arrows at us from the docks, "you didn't tell me that the Thalmor were pursuing you!" said the argonian. "No, i'm sorry but there wasn't much time." he gave a grunt of resignation, and continued rowing. "we are getting away Suthara!" yelled K'Donna, almost on command an arrow came flying at the perfect angle, and hit K'Donna in the eye. "AHGH!" he screamed in that was the only arrow that hit us. We were away, we were free.


	2. Trip to Anvil

Once we had gotten away, K'Donna passed out from a combination of shock and exhaustion, the arrow still embedded in his eye. The argonain spoke.  
"I am called Han-Xeel, and you khajiit have a lot to explain to me." "Yes mister, i'm so sorry to drag you into this. But my brother and I needed to get out of Elswe-."  
"No little cat, what I want to know is what that, *thing* you did to me was." "What?" I asked quizzing. "I was fully ready to just go off alone and ignore your pathetic little request. But then you looked at me, and suddenly you were the scariest little cat I had ever seen and I needed to do as you say. That, is what I want to know." I had no clue what Han-Xeel was talking about, that whole moment was a blur. All I remember is asking the argonian for a ride, and than yelling for one and that was when he said ok.  
"It was weird is all i'm saying, what is you and your brothers name? little cat." I tell him that I am Suthara, and that my brother was K'Donna. "He's a big one, in fact Iv'e never seen a khajiit as big as your brother." I explain how the moons affect our lives as best a 9 year old can. and that my brother was born cathay-raht. The lizard begins to understand slowly. "I wont ask why you need to leave Elsweyr, as that is not my business, however I do request some sort of compensation for helping you."  
I don't say anything and just stare at the clear cyrodiilic water.

I had not noticed falling asleep. Han-Xeel woke me up and told me that we had made it to the Imperial City. Groggily I looked around and noticed a massive and intricate white tower of stone. I had never seen anything as wondrous, I shuffled over to K'Donna to wake him up. "I don't think that is the best idea Suthatra, he is hurt and I know nothing about medicine. you should get him some professional help." Once we made it into port, Han-Xeel gets off and I follow him. "I am not letting you cats out of my sight until you pay me at least 500 septims ok, that seems fair?" I nod and begin walking into the city letting K'Donna sleep on the boat. Han was a dark swampy green argonian without any spikes or fins to speak of, he was wearing a black bandanna and green clothing, he looked wealthy compared to our rags.  
"Where should I begin looking for money and medical care?" "How should I know? I have only ever been in the imperial city about twice now." I begin looking around and I spot an imperial guard next to a door to the temple district. he looks over and sees us walking. "Not looking to steal anything, are you khajiit?" "Why would I?" *he smirks "Oh don't play dumb with me cat, I know your type." *I look up at Han. "good guard, we mean no harm here, I am simply helping this young khajiit find medical help for her injured brother." The guard stares us down for a moment, and I guess he concludes that we aren't up to any shady business. "yeah, what kind of injury?"  
"mister my brother was hit in the eye with an arrow." "damn! he survived that!" Han asks if he would like to come see, and the guard follows us back to the boat.  
K'Donna is still out cold, lying on top of our bags. "Well that thing is in deep! How did this happen? Running from the law?" "Bosmer archers." Han says back to the guard.  
"well your going to want the Anvil Mages Guild for this one, they specialize in restoration."

"Well, I want my money but your brothers health comes first Suthara. Do you want me to accompany you to Anvil, I may look like a simple sailor, but I know my way around a bow." I told Han-Xeel that he did not need to. "ok I will put this a different way, I will take you two to Anvil because if you die than you cant pay me back, ok!"  
"Ok." I said meekly. Now then, we need to get your brother to Anvil." I walk over and begin to wake K'Donna up. he gets up slowly and gets off of the boat. "Where are we Suthara?" I explain that he slept through the journey and that we need to get to Anvil to help with his eye. "My eye?" *He reaches up and tries to touch the arrow.  
wincing in pain. "Agh, how did that get there Suthara?" Han intervenes " You two should get our bags i'm putting my boat into a shipyard. And we should find an inn if if you don't want to travel in the dark." *K'Donna stands up and tells Han that we have no money. "Well than I guess were going to get ripped apart by bandits." "It wont be an issue for us." "Yes I know khajiit can see in the dark, but argonians cant. I will be a blind fool at night." K'Donna begins walking toward the gate "Well you are free to stay here, but My sister and I are walking to Anvil" *Han begins walking away for a second before turning to look at us."I told you i'm not going to take my eyes off of you. I'm coming."and so we set off to Anvil, a young khajiit, her half blind brother, and an angry argonain.

The trip was mostly uneventful except when some bandits started yelling at us from the top of a hill."Drop all of your gold and we will let you go free!"  
Han drew his bow and prepared for a fight. but when K'Donna looked up slowly at them they saw the arrow in his eye, he yelled "You bandit renrij want to come on down here and ask me to my face!?" The bandits scurried back up their hill after that threat. we stopped to camp between Skingrad and Kvach at Han's request. K'Donna went off to gather firewood, and Han took the moment to sleep. I was not tired, so I sat on a rock and looked out at the moons, something about the idea of mamma looking at them at the same time comforted me once K'Donna had come back he told me to go to sleep, he would keep watch. once I had awoken Han was roasting some sort of bug over the fire,  
he noticed that I was awake but did nothing, I walked over to K'Donna and got a piece of bread out of my pack. once we had all eaten. we got up to continue to Anvil.  
It felt like no time at all when we finally made it to Anvil."Well, were here, now can we please find the mages guild so that we can fix your eye. And I can get paid." Han was dreading almost every second of this. After exploring Anvil for a couple of minutes we had found the mages guild. K'Donna walked up to the small breton standing outside.  
"You can fix my eye?" He looks at the big cat. "yes we can do it cathay-raht, but it is not cheap, I would say... 300 septims." K'Donna's spirits dropped, and he turned and sulked away. *Han pulls me aside "Suthara, why don't you try and do that *thing* that you did to me?" "I don't know how to do that, it just, happened." he looks back at the breton.  
"Well why not try, I mean it wont hurt." "I guess not." once he said that I got up and walked over to the breton. "hey, why does it cost so much mister wizard? my brother really needs help." The breton explains that the restoration would not bring back K'Donna's eye, it would only scar over. Also the magicka cost is quite high for that kind of spell "I said my brother need Help!" he stares for a second and looks bothered. "Hey khajiit, that's nice, I wouldn't expect somebody so young to know illusion magic." "Illusion magic?"

"Yes, the fear spell is quite difficult to learn, for any mage really, how did you do that?" "will you heal my brother or not?" "sorry little khajiit, the price is still the same.  
I walked away crestfallen.


	3. In Anvil

Han-Xeel was walking with me."We need to get that arrow out of your brothers face." My brother was sitting on a barrel on the docks, he had his head hung low.  
I try to speak with him, "We should have never left!" I freeze in place. "Suthara we should have just stayed in Elsweyr, we left to evade debt, now were deeper than ever,  
and I have a wound that I will never recover from." I begin crying. "... Stop, please, i'm sorry Suthara, come here." I shuffle into a hug with K'Donna.

Han walks up to the two hugging khajiit. "you two, I uh, i'm going into town to buy, uh supplies." Han walks away. It felt like an eternity before I let go of K'Donna.  
I hear a strange jingling at the edge of the dock. "I see ye two need help, it breaks me heart to see a brother and sister cryin' together" I turn to see a bearded man in fine hat.  
"Names Captian Harlow, and I would love to help ye." Captain Harlow was a tall skinny guy with many buckles and an eye-patch, he looked like he had seen his fair share of adventures. K'Donna lets go of me and stands at his full height. "you can remove this arrow from my face?" "Aye, ye see I lost an eye too, had me first mate operate on it."  
"He's on the ship right now, we could go to see him." K'Donna turns to me. "Suthara, what choice do we have?" I reply with a little grin "We enter his ship?""Yes... expect anything."

Captain Harlow brings us to a large wooden ship, once were on deck which is surprisingly lacking in crew, the captain brings us below deck.  
"Tis easy to get lost down here lads, stay close." We follow Harlow for a while before we get to a small room. "Now then big fella' you need to lay down on the table and let me strap you in." K'Donna looks skeptical "why must I be strapped down?" "It is going to hurt a lot, and you moving around will only make it hurt more. Believe me it's for your own safety." K'Donna hesitates before laying down on the table, he does not fit so Harlow moves a barrel under his head. Captain Harlow precedes to tie K'Donna down with rope. "now then little one, ye may want to turn away and cover your ears this might get gruesome." I turn around and cover my ears.  
I made the mistake of uncovering my ears, just in time to hear the sickening sound of the arrow being pulled out of K'Donna's eye. this was followed by the terrible screaming of my beloved brother."

"Ye can turn around now little lass." I turn around, only to be faced with Harlow holding a knife to my throat. I hold back a scream as Harlow begins to speak. "That procedure is a well known trick called murder. Now hand over everything you have!" I am paralyzed by fear and cant move a muscle. "Whats wrong little kitty, cat got your tongue?"  
He begins moving closer toward me, I back up until I hit a wall."I will ask ye only one more time. Give me your valuables!" I stutter out, "W- we, we have no valuables."  
"Well than I guess i'm going to have to kill ye." *He begins laughing maniacally. He begins to swing at me I raise up my hands and shout "NO!" At the very moment I say that,  
the knife hits the floor, the captain is backing away from me, "Get away from me ye demon!" As he backs away, I see a massive form rise up from the table. The captain bumps into K'Donna and turns around I see from my dark corner is K'Donna grabbing Harlow by the neck. "You! You tried to murder me!" K'Donna is roaring now.  
"How *glk* could you have survived that?"K'Donna does not respond but procedes to drag Harlow through the halls of his ship, I follow him silently, Harlow's knife concealed in my rags.  
once were back up on deck, a crowd had formed by the dock. In the light of day I could see K'Donnas still bleeding eye, the arrow was nowhere to be seen.  
K'Donna holds Harlow up into the air by the neck. I notice the crowd gasping in horror of K'Donna's face. after seeing this, my brother precedes to pull the eye-patch clean off of Harlow's screaming face.  
As it turns out the Captain had no injury at all and was just trying to bait us. K'Donna drops the man on deck, he lays in a crumpled heap on the deck of his own ship.

K'Donna and I go back below deck to see if we can find any kind of wealth on Harlow's ship. We find nothing in any of the rooms, and one door is locked. "Suthara, go search Harlow's body for a key." I agree and go back up to the deck. There are a couple of burly men around Harlow's unconscious body. I squeeze through them enough to find a key ring around his belt. I take the key ring but as I am going back below deck. The men call out to me, "You, khajiit girl, come over here." I hide the keys in my rags and walk over to the big men. the redguard kneels down to me. "Do you know who dealt with this pirate?" "M- my, brother, K- K'Donna." "May we go meet him?" I remain silent The man leans in closer, hey hey little girl, your safe now. your brother did a good deed. May I meet him? My men will stay behind." I nod. When I come down with the redguard K'Donna is failing to pick the lock with is massive claws. "So you took down that pirate? your K'Donna?" My brother stands up, he was about a head taller than the redguard. "Yes?" While K'Donna is talking with the redguard, I try testing keys to open the door, none of them work, K'Donna is finished speaking with the redguard and turns to me "Suthara, this man, Lormic, is with the fighters guild, he tells me that Harlow is already being sent off to the imperial jail. your safe now you can stop shaking." I had not noticed that I was shaking.  
but once I had stopped I felt cold.

"I suppose this ship should be yours now, I mean, its rightful owner is currently being hauled off to jail" We had moved the conversation to the fighters guild hall, K'Donna was discussing things with Lormic, and I was sitting nearby looking out the window at the archery range. Then I saw something strange, the wood elf that was there looked over to his right.  
then I saw Han-Xeel come around the corner, toward the archery range. He stands there watching the wood elf fire for about a minute, before he walks over to him. I see Han talking to him but I cant hear what they are saying.  
Then the wood elf hands the bow over to Han, Han laughs for a couple of seconds before turning toward a target. He fires, perfect bulls-eye, the wood elf looks shocked, he is walking up to the target, Han yells something at the elf who quickly moves out of the way, and another arrow comes flying in and splits the first arrow in half length-wise, the wood elf runs back to Han and stands next to him, hes pointing his finger at Han.  
Han raises his arms in a pleading sort of way, he then turns around and fires the bow backwards and angled upward, I notice that he barely even pulls the string, and fires the arrow with much less power.  
That arrow flies a little bit slower, but hits the bulls-eye right above the other two arrows, in fact it hits at just the right angle to pop them both out. The wood elf is freaking out now, he is screaming at Han.  
I run out to the archery range but by the time I got there, Han-Xeel was gone.


	4. Departure

"Suthara. Suthara. Suthara! I turn to see K'Donna face to face with me. "Snap out of it Suthara, are you alright?" I tell K'Donna that i'm fine. "The fighters guild tells me that we may stay for a night, and... never-mind. Anyway could you please go find Han-Xeel?" I excitedly hop up. "Yep I can go find him." K'Donna walks away and goes back to talking with Lormic, and I walk out of the fighters guild. I notice Han walking around the shopping district. as I begin running up to Han he does not turn around, I stop behind him "Han!" *He jumps, startled. "ahh! oh is only you, sorry you spooked me, what do you want Suthara?" I explain how K'Donna and I took down a pirate, and that were sleeping in the fighters guild. "oh really? did you find a way to get the arrow out of K'Donna's eye?" "Kind of." I explain how the pirate had tried to kill my brother by pulling the arrow out. "What!? Barbs and all? that's incredible, and K'Donna survived that?!" I decide to ask Han about the archery thing. "What did you see? Must have been some other argonian I was out drinking." "No I saw your clothes and your bandanna, you looked like you were teaching that wood elf how to shoot." his face turns harsh if only for a second "Ok Suthara,  
you need to stop snooping, I will tell you about it later." I agree and walk silently with Han back to the fighters guild.

The first thing Han notices when we get into the fighters guild is K'Donna's eye-patch. "so you did get that thing removed." K'Donna smirks. "My eye or the arrow?"  
Han gives a small chuckle. K'Donna walks over to Han. "Han we cannot pay you back..." Han stands up swiftly, "What!" K'Donna motions for him to sit back down. "You did not let me finish Han. We cannot pay you back in gold." Han-Xeel looks angry, if intrigued "Go on." K'Donna explains how we fought a pirate and received his ship as a reward. "Well that's great for you, now what about me?" "I have decided to give you the ship, as a token of gratitude." Han's face changes into one of shock, and then one of unbridled joy.  
"Are you serious!?" K'Donna shrugs his shoulders. "What use would khajiit have for a boat?" All I ask is that you bring my siste... the two of us, to wherever your first stop is.  
"I can do that." Han goes outside to look at his new ship.

I go outside to see Han walking around the dock, admiring his new ship. "What will you name it Han?" Han-Xeel looks over to me. "oh little Suthara I have the perfect name for it.  
you don't understand, this is the first ship I have ever owned. that little row-boat wasn't mine, it was an imperial who let me borrow it for a quick trade." "So what will it be called?"  
Han lets a massive smile cross his face. "The Setha-Veesk" My face explains my bewilderment. "It means floating-ghost." I think that is a great name. "Suthara I wont be able to sleep tonight,  
I will be busy doing everything with this boat, go inside and get some rest, we leave in the morning."

waking up late in the tough leather beds that the fighters guild had to offer. Once I had gone downstairs I saw K'Donna being fitted for some sort of armor. When he had noticed me he waved off the small lady fitting the armor on him. "Suthara, get your things, yo... were leaving?" K'Donna is practicaly carrying me out of the guild hall. I see a row of big humans being led onto Hans boat. "Han, are you ready to set sail?" Han is messing with some sacks, he raises his tail up. "Almost, give me a moment." K'Donna is carrying me up the gangplank. "Why are you in such a hurry?" I ask "oh uh, no reason, I just, *really* want to see the world." My brother puts me down on the deck. "Setting sail!  
anyone going to Skyrim, come on and pay me!" Han is shouting from the steering wheel. "I cannot lie to you anymore Suthara..." K'donna is standing behind me still on the plank.  
"What do you mean?" K'Donna pauses with his head hung low. "I, uh I, I am staying in Cyrodiil." Once I heard those words, I fell to my knees. "What do you mean, your staying?"  
The tears were streaming from my eyes now, a torrent of salty water flowing from my clear blue eyes. "..." K'Donna comes over to hug me. "I cannot protect you forever Suthara."  
"I have been invited to join the fighters guild after my dispatching of that pirate." I was burying my face into my brother's warm fur. "I have spoken with Han-Xeel and he has agreed to protect you, I don't know why, but I can trust this argonain." I shriek. " Your wrong! I want to go with my brother!" Han walks up behind me. "He is not lying, Suthara in the 3 days I have known you, you have shown to be incredibly strong for one so young. You will survive without your brother, you must. He will make his destiny his own and you will make yours your own." I finally let go of K'Donna. He begins to back away off of the gangplank, and then Han procedes to pull it up, and we set sail for Skyrim.

Han tells me that I can go below deck to be alone if I want to, as soon as he says that I quickly run to the darkest most remote place on the boat, which happened to be the cargo hold. After about an hour of cradling myself in my tears in the dark of the cargo hold, I see lantern-light as Han comes down to join me. "I know this was not easy for you."  
I look up at Han, "can you tell, *sniff* can you tell me about how you got so good at archery?" He pauses for a moment, "you know, it really is not that great of a story, but i will tell it if only to make you feel better." I nod slowly "Well you see I was actually a guard, in the nordic city of Solitude. After years of training in the art of archery, I became so good at it that I became captain of the guard in Solitude." I stare blankly at him. "You don't know how miraculous that is, do you? An argonain becoming a guard is a rare sight, captain of the guard is the stuff of legends." I begin to smile slightly, I ask what happened to his position. "The thieves guild happened Suthara, I was so good at my job that their thieves could not do anything in Solitude, without getting caught. They wiped my name from the imperial record books, they framed me for a murder I did not commit. In the end I needed to run away from Solitude to evade capture by the guards I had trained myself, Not my finest hour." I ask him what he will use this boat for. "It is a ferry, I will take people from one place and bring them to another, we are heading to Winterhold now." I stand up "so why was that wood elf so angry with you? "Hah funny that one, he was so sure that Bosmer were the greatest archers in all of tamriel.  
He challenged me to hit 3 bulls-eyes in a row, and when I hit two he began to freak out. He challenged me to hit the last one backwards. And I did it. At first he backed out and refused to pay.  
The damned elf thought I was cheating, how you cheat at archery I don't know, but after I told him that I could shoot him from across the city if I so wanted. he payed me 300 septims."  
Han stands up. "I left a cot down here for you, I need to go captain, you may stay her as long as you want Suthara," Han left me In the dark again, and I sat back down and curled up again.


	5. Arrival

I just woke up on the hard wooden floor, completely forgetting the cot Han told me about I got up and went up to the deck, "Good morning, did you have a good sleep?!"  
I hear from the captains deck. Han was steering, I saw no land in sight. "Where are we?" Han stops steering for a moment, and comes down to the deck to see me.  
"Were in the sea of ghosts, north of Skyrim." I ask Han about the rest of the people he was transporting. "I already dropped them off in Solitude." "I thought we were going to winterhold?"  
he tells me that *we* are, just me and him. I ask why "Two reasons Suthara, one, I don't want to enter Solitude with my *reputation*, two, we need to get you to the collage in winterhold." Han judges by my confused expression. "You have a gift Suthara, didn't you see it? That breton outside the mages guild in Anvil." I remembered the breton angering me somewhat for not helping K'Donna, at the thought of K'Donna I remember that hes not here anymore.

"Well that breton was right, you were using illusion magic, You may not know it, but you were. You need to find out why your good at that particular school of magic,  
and more specifically he mentioned the fear spell." I was just looking out into the fog. I saw the thin outline of a great stone city. Han steps up beside me, "Yep that's Winterhold what a great city." Han stops talking and looks over the edge of the boat. "So what was in that locked door below deck?" "I have no key for it so I don't know." Han and I just look out at sea for a while, I shiver, not realizing how cold it actually was, I look around in the sea, and see icebergs floating around. "Oh no I just realized that your body is not used to this cold, come with me lets get you a blanket. I told your brother I would protect you, not letting you freeze would be a good first step Suthara." I ask if his body is used to the cold. "Well no, I have been Covered in blankets all night." "All night! you stayed awake for 2 days straight!?" He tells me that its alright, he has gone longer without sleep before.

We arrive in Winterhold a little later. "You should go find the collage, I need to unload this ship." after wandering around Winterhold with a fur blanket around me,  
I find a very tall building with blue light coming out of the highest window. Before I can admire it for very long I hear a voice behind me. "Are you here for the college?"  
Turning around I spot a dunmer and stammer out "Y- ye- yes," "I can feel the magical energy emanating off of you, follow me, I am Drevis by the way." "Yes, this one might do."  
a high elf was talking to Drevis. "Well Drevis you found another prospective, congratulations, although we have to many students at this time." he looks at me for only a moment.  
long enough to judge how good I might be at magic, "Listen khajiit, and listen well, we usually don't accept people who cannot demonstrate magic, or one so young.  
The only reason I am even considering you is the innate magical energy I feel in you." "Oriel, we don't have that many students, I am sure I can find a way to teach this young khajiit."  
Oriel smiles. "Very well Drevis. It is cold out here, so find her a robe and show her around the college. Welcome to the College of Winterhold girl."

"What is your name khajiit?" we had gone inside where it was warmer. "Suthara." Drevis says that is a nice name. He is digging around in a chest, " Don't mind Oriel, hes a very old altmer, cranky and grumpy all the time, I am looking for a robe small enough for you." I ask what illusion magic is and how I relate to it. "Illusion magic is the art of the mind influencing others, turning invisible. I felt your magical energy the moment you entered the college, and so I came to find you, I was not expecting to find such a strong signal coming from one so young, especialy not a khajiit." I shuffle my feet a little on the hard stone floor. "There you go." *Drevis pulls out a dusty brown robe. "this was actually meant as bosmer camouflage so it is enchanted, but it will at least fit. you may want to trim the sleeves a little they are long."


	6. First day in Winterhold

"This is your room, you will have a roommate, but as a late addition to the collage, you cannot complain about that. Well once you are settled in and have met your roommate, come to the hall of the elements for a class." Drevis said goodbye and left the hall. Not feeling like unpacking at the moment I just threw my bag into the small chest at the foot of my bed. "Your my roommate, khajiit?" I turned around to see a tall redguard woman staring me down with icy blue eyes. "I am Atmah."  
She held out her hand to me. "Well khajiit? shake my hand." Silently I grab her hand and slowly shake it. "Tava's sake girl, you act like you've never touched another soul.  
Well I am going to my class, you're free to follow me." Atmah begins to walk away, and I quickly follow her. "Whats your name khajiit?" I just stare at her. "Look I'm just being friendly, I told you my name, Now you tell me yours." Suthara, I say quietly to Atmah. "What? I did not hear that, Speak up cat." Suthara! I said louder almost yelling it.  
other mages in the courtyard look over at us. "Ok Suthara, nice to meet you." Atmah did not seem to notice ther other mages, or she just did not care.

My first class consists of about ten people including Atmah and I. A high elf woman came into the hall. "Ok everyone, today we will be analyzing the effects of destruction magic." She told everyone to stand back as she placed apples on a small stone pedestal. "Now then class watch closely." A young dark elf leaned over to me and said "I bet we all already know this stuff." I try to ignore him and pay attention to the lesson as I did not know anything about this stuff. the teacher quickly made a throwing motion and on command a fireball flew through the air and one of the apples nearly exploded into fire. The dark elf failed to stifle a giggle and the teacher seemed to notice as she smiles.  
"Savos seems to have volunteered to show us some more advanced destruction spells." Savos began to walk toward her with swagger. "Gladly." Savos stood where the teacher was and with a fast fling of his arm all of the remaining apples exploding almost instantly. "Showoff." I hear Atmah say. The teacher walks back up the the front of the class.  
"ahem, now than our next order of business, we have a new student with us today." She looks down at me. "Were indoors young one, you can take your hood off." I shuffle my feet a little bit and wrap my tail around my legs self consciously. "Well if you dont feel like it that's fine. would you tell us your name, girl?" Suthara, I squeak out nearly silently "I'm sorry what was that?" Suddenly Atmah chimes in "Her name is Suthara, dont pressure her, she is kind of shy and arrived here only this morning." "Well ok then,  
thank you Atmah." I exhale and before I can even inhale again Atmah leans over to me. "Thank me later." I blink in response. the teacher speaks again "I would like to see what you can do Suthara, I mean you would not be here if you could not command some form of magic." The teacher motions me up to the front of the class. standing there I see the faces of my classmates, mostly elven or breton. but a few other faces mixed in there like Atmah. "Well I am waiting for something. and I am sure the rest of the class is too Suthara."

I tried concentrating as hard as possible on anything, anything at all. I held out my hand trying to focus on any special things inside. "Well, cast something khajiit!" I hear Savos yell from the group. Trying as hard as I could was to no avail. "I wonder how you made it here if you couldn't demonstrate magic Suthara?" the teacher was standing over me now, I began to slump down but the teacher is calling to me. "Suthara, Suthara, Suthara!" She says a third time. I quickly turn to her, and she stops halfway through a forth "Suth... " I see the fear in the teachers eyes. She shakes her head away from my trance a few seconds later. "We, well that was nice, I, I guess you may go back now Suthara.  
once I get back to my place. Atmah leans over to me. "What spell was that?" Savos over-heard her."It was a fear spell Atmah, Is that the only spell you know Suthara?" I stay silent "uh class is dismissed. I need to go to sleep" the teacher says as she walks away holding her head.

I went back to my room after a couple of minutes spent walking around the collage. Atmah was sitting on her bed. "Well that was quite a scene wasn't it? Full of surprises aren't you."  
I just quietly reply, "Yeah, a little bit, I did not intend to do that. It only ever happens when i'm tense or in danger." Atmah explains "We don't have any classes tomorrow, but that doesn't stop some of us, Some colleagues and I meet in The Midden on certain days to practice, Savos might say that he is naturally gifted in the arcane arts, but hes only powerful because he meets with us.  
Do you want to come tomorrow? We could teach you some new spells." I don't reply. "Well if you want to then Come with me in the morning." with that Atmah rolls up in her blankets and quickly falls asleep. I do need to learn some new spells, so it would be good for me, deciding that I would go with Atmah in the morning, I to crawl into bed and quickly fall asleep.


	7. Spells in the Midden

I was woken up early this morning by Atmah. "You coming or what Suthara?" I slowly get up and grogily follow Atmah outside. The cold hit me hard as soon as I stepped into the chilling skyrim air. Atmah calls back to me "You get used to the cold eventually, but its worse at nighttime." We were walking toward a small hatch in the floor. There was a large human sitting on a crate that looked like it had been moved. "So you're finally here?" The human opened the hatch that led into a cave under the floor "I don't know how you nords endure this cold Hafnar." "Thick skin mostly." All three of us headed down to the midden.

Atmah soon brought me to a small cluster of about four mages. "Ok everyone, I brought my roommate this time." The cluster turned to me and I saw a bosmer, an argonian, Savos, and another dark elf I did not recognize. The argonian stepped forward "I am Takes-In-Light." The wood elf said that his name was Girduin, and the dunmer I did not recognize said that I could call her Elvali Veren. Savos stepped forward "Its good that you're here Suthara, from what I saw in class yesterday you need quite a bit of training." "Leave her alone Aren, she only just got here." Atmah said quickly in my defense. Takes-In-Light speaks "I think I will try and practice my conjuration today." Atmah says that she will help her with that, and Girduin tags along. Elvali tells Savos that she was going to go try and perfect wards using the other students conjuration. Once she has gone, Savos tells me to follow him.

I silently follow Savos into a small room with a couple of stuffed dummys on wooden posts. "I am going to help you Suthara, in the collage we do dangerous things sometimes, a mage always needs a way to defend themselves, so I will find a way to teach you a simple fire spell. Watch me closely." With that Savos turns around to the wall and instantly fire spews from both of his hands with apparently little effort on his part. "Now you try." I stood where he did, and tried holding my hand out.  
I held it there for what felt like a minute "I cant do this." Savos looks hard at the scorch mark on the wall that he left. "This is an easy spell I learned it easily,  
why cant you?" "Your a dark elf that's why." I turned to see the large frame of Hafnar enter the room. "She is khajiit, it may be hard to believe Aren but other races struggle with magic." "My apologies Hafnar, but how can I teach her to use some spell other than fear?" Hafnar walked up to me, still in the position I was in. "Your form is all off Suthara, keep your legs slightly bent, and have your back straight." I do as Hafnar says and it feels slightly uncomfortable. Savos then speaks "Usually when I want to cast fire I just think about it coming out of my hand and it does. Try thinking about the spell you want to cast, if it is not fire then think about what you want to shoot.

I think about a forest on fire in great detail, seeing the embers fly into the grayed sky, the wood of the trees smoldering in the bright fire that appears to be alive. but nothing happens. I then picture the fire coming out of my hand, but I look down at my hand and its empty. "Maybe your an ice mage like me, try to picure cold air coming out of your hands." Hafnar is looking at me with his arms crossed. I try to picture the same forest but instead of fire, it is wreathed in the fluffy white snow that blankets skyrim's landscape, I then try to picture the cold air of the wintry forrest coming out of my hands, and for a second I can feel my hands get slightly colder. But the moment I notice it it vanishes and my fur covered hands feel just the same again. "Why would she be good with ice magic Hafnar? thats a nord thing." Savos and Hafnar are arguing about what kind of destruction magic I would be good at. "Well Savos I suppose if she was to be a fire mage, then she would have cast fire earlier wouldn't she, maybe she is a storm mage, did you ever think of that?" I shut my eyes and tried to shut the two bickering mages out. I began to imagine the forest again but this time with heavy torrents of rain falling down, and lightning off in the distence, the thunderclaps were numerous an soon enough I pictured a bolt of lightning striking one of the trees and I opened my eyes to see a small spark on the tips of my index and middle fingers, Hafnar and Savos had stopped arguing and had now turned to me. I noticed the spark on my fingertips but unlike the cold air, it had not gone away. in fact the more I thought about it the larger it got, to the point that I was concentrating my entire mind on that little spark I began to move my arms in a sort of circular motion. letting the lightning accumulate in the air before curling my arms in, I needed a way to unleash the energy inside of my arms now There was just me, and the wall. suddenly I felt something on my shoulder. through the blur I heard Savos' voice, "Suthara you cannot use a spell like that down here! Is's to powerful and the entire college will hear it!" I blocked him out, there was no way I was letting this pent up energy not be used for my first actual spell. In my void I suddenly pictured the wall as, not a wall. instead standing there was the thalmor justicar that made K'Donna and I leave. and on the thought of K'Donna I thrust my arms out and let loose the power of lightning.

Han-Xeel was tying things up on his ship it was the early morning he loved waking up this early in order to see the cloudless aurora. "I should go check on Suthara when it gets brighter out." Suddenly without warning he heard the loudest thunderclap in the rain less night. it seemed to be coming from within winterhold, no, under winterhold.  
the sound startled Han and he turned to the city to see nothing out of the ordinary.

I opened my eyes to see that I had blasted a clean hole through the brick wall that Savos had only scorched. I then felt a ringing inside my ears, and turned around to see Savos and Hafnar panicking, Savos went to grab me as I tried rubbing my ears. I cant hear a thing as Savos and Hafnar lead me back to an area where the other mages had gathered.  
Hearing was coming back to me when we all ran back up to our rooms as quickly as possible, Atmah almost dragged me into our room, and as soon as she had put me in my bed, she slumped into her bed and pretended to sleep, I did the same, it was difficult, but I had done it, I had cast lightning.


	8. Food with Han

I woke up a few hours later, Atmah was already up and working on her alchemy table, she notices me getting up. "Suthara, you're lucky that nobody in the college heard that thunder." I began walking over to Atmah's alchemy station."Hey Suthara could you stop looming over my table, its a little bit creepy." I apologize and then ask if we have any classes today. "I told you last night that we don't, you're free to do what you want." I gave my excuses and left the hall. I wanted to go see Han and tell him about how my first class went and how I was able to cast lightning.

Walking around Winterhold was strange to say the least, the nords were giving me strange looks from the wayside as I walked past, is it really that strange to see a khajiit in the city? I saw Han's ship in the distance but before I got there, A nord called "Hey khajiit!" I turn to see a skinny nord in rags stumbling toward me.  
"Hey, he-, hey khajiit." I look at him strangely. "You got, y-, you got any sk-,skooma khajiit?" I tell him that I do not have any of the drug. "Your lying cat!  
I know you got skooma! all khajiit do!" I really dont have any skooma. I'm sorry. A guard walked up to the nord addict, "Ok Jorik you've harassed this poor girl long enough leave her alone now." "No! I can smell the moon sugar on her fur! He lunged at me and before he could even get close, the guard had taken him down was talking to me now.  
"I am really sorry khajiit, the rest of us aren't like this one." I tell him that it's ok.

I found Han setting up a table on the deck of his ship. "Hey Suthara, I was just setting up for food, do you want to join me?" I tell him that would be nice.  
"Well than follow me below deck." I followed Han to a counter with several bottles and foods stored behind it on a shelf. Han grabbed a tomato and put it on the counter "watch this Suthara." While I was looking at the tomato Han was looking around in a bin, "found it." I look up to see Han swinging a mace down and splattering tomato I lift my arms to brace myself, but I don't need to as Han catches tomato splatter in one quick circular motion with a wooden cutting board, he then precedes to scrape the sauce into a large wooden bowl. "Here Suthara." He hands me a relatively large pestle. "Use this to mash up the sauce a bit more." I do as Han tells me and precedes to mash up the tomato sauce in the bowl using the pestle. At the same time, Han was doing something else, "Watch me Suthara." I look up to see Han holding out two knives He then began to cut up two leeks on the counter so quickly that I had not noticed him dumping the leeks into my mashed up tomato. "Keep mashing Suthara!" I kept on mashing but I also looked up to see Han cutting more leeks up and dumping them into another bowl of tomato, he then got another pestle and began to mash up the leeks in his bowl at such a rapid pace that I had not noticed that I was not doing it anymore. "You need to keep mashing if you want to make it right Suthara." I keep mashing and hardly notice Han dumping a little bit of salt into my bowl. I continue mashing for another minute before Han tells me that its enough. Han takes my bowl and puts it next to his. He then pulls out a bottle reading argonian ale and pours some into his bowl he then goes to pour into mine but stops right as hes about to, Han corks his bottle and puts it back. He hands me my bowl and we walk back to his table.

We sit down at his table and Han hands me a spoon. "You are eating my own recipe, I like to call it Argonain, Blood-Soup" I take a big sip of it and it tastes good "Normally I put argonian ale into it but I thought I shouldn't put alcohol into yours." I laugh a little. "So tell me, what did you do on your first day at the college? And I know you got accepted if only because you did not come back here last night." I explain my day breathlessly through mouthfuls of Blood-Soup "I was able to use the fear spell on my teacher!" Han asks if you got in trouble for it. "No, she was asking me to demonstrate a spell and while I was trying to use anything she was bearing down on me so I instantly wanted her to go away, I raised my head and she backed off." Han looks surprised "Really? and how were your classmates?" I swallow some more Soup. "They were alright I guess, most seemed to be practicing for years, but A few of them invited me to go study with them." Han looks up from his meal. "Well I hope you went with them, you need to learn how to control your abilities." I laugh that I did, and was able to cast a spell. Han raises one eyebrow. "And what spell was that?"  
I start from where Savos demonstrated in class, I explain that my roommate, Atmah offered to bring me into the midden for training. "you mean, under winterhold?"  
"Yeah! It was kind of chilly down there but not to bad." I explain how Savos and Hafnar were trying to figure out what kind of destruction magic I would use. "I think that I know where this is going. Did, did you cause that thunder that I heard early this morning? There wasn't a cloud in the sky. and it seemed to come from underneath Winterhold." I say yes excitedly, "Can you believe it Han, I cast lightning!" Han looks mock dismissive. "Well I can only believe what I see with my own eyes Suthara."  
"What? you mean you don't believe me?" "Hey I never said that. I mean a demonstration would be really helpful in determining if you can cast lightning and it was not some other wizard." I was angry now, how could Han not believe me! I immediately stood up and looked at the sky off the side of Han's boat.

Han was sitting with his feet on the table looking at me. I held out my arms and tried picturing the same scene that I had in the midden I saw the forest raining and there was no lightning to be seen. I heard Hans voice "Well I see no lightning in your hands." now there was small bolts of lightning in the forest. I felt the sparks in my hand and made the same circular motion I had in the midden. Hans voice was heard again "What are those? sparks? I want to see lightning. I curled my arms back ready to cast the spell Hans voice rang again. "I suppose that if you can't cast a simple spell than I need to take you somewhere else." Now the forest was storming heavily. Han spoke, "I wonder how disappointed K'Donna will be?" With that the forest was blinded out by a massive bolt of lightning, and I opened my eyes to see myself firing lightning into the sky "That's what I wanted to see!" I scream loudly and launch another bolt into the sky. "Suthara." I continue launching bolts of lightning into the sky, and screaming. "Suthara, Suthara I believe you!" I stop casting lightning bolts and collapse onto the wooden deck.

Han picks me up. "Don't worry Suthara. I just wanted to see you cast lightning again." I look up at Han, I did not understand what he was saying "Do you belive me now Han?" "I belived you all along Suthara." I was angry again. "Then why did you not tell me until I did it again?!" Han smiles and sits me back into my chair. "A little training strategy I learned in Solitude. It worked. "What do you mean?" "I was not lying when I wanted to see you cast lighting, but I knew that you did not want to disapoint me, and more specifically K'Donna.  
So I focused on that and you were able to cast the spell. your magic is linked to your emotions. and I played off of that, and was able to get you to use it." I was not angry anymore.  
just very tired. "You probably drained all of your magicka from doing that. I would suggest going back to the college and getting some sleep." I do as Han says and I go back to my room.


End file.
